Georges Destriau (1 August 1903 - 20 January 1960) was a French physicist and early observer of electroluminescence.[1][2]

Georges Destriau
Born(1903-08-01)1 August 1903
Died(1960-01-20)20 January 1960
CitizenshipFrance
Alma materÉcole Centrale des Arts et Manufactures
Known forElectroluminescence
Scientific career
FieldsPhysics, chemistry
Institutions

Education and Research

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In 1926 Destriau became an engineer at the École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures in Paris. Thereafter he worked in the x-ray device industry. From 1932 until 1941 Destriau worked at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. A brief stay at the University of Bordeaux was followed in 1943 by a move to Paris. In 1946 Destriau became professor at the University of Poitiers and in 1954 at the Sorbonne in Paris. Later Destriau worked for Westinghouse Electric.[3]

Destriau worked in the field of magnetism and X-ray dosimetry of ionizing radiation. Best-known is his research on electroluminescence, which he carried out in 1935 in the Paris laboratory of Marie Curie, who had died a year earlier. Destriau observed that zinc sulfide crystals fluoresced when doped with traces of copper ions and suspended in castor oil between two mica platelets, with a strong alternating electric field applied.[4] Later he replaced the castor oil and mica with a polymer binder.[5]

The effect of electroluminescence is therefore also referred to in some publications as the "Destriau effect". According to some publications, Destriau was the first to use the term "electrophotoluminescence".[6][7] In his publications, he himself called the light "Losev-Light", after the Russian radio frequency technician Oleg Losev, who in 1927 worked with silicon carbide crystals to induce a light effect (also electroluminescence).[8]

References

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  1. ^ Luminescence of organic and inorganic materials: international conference. New York University, Wiley, 1962, S. 7.
  2. ^ H. Temerson: Biographies des principales personnalités françaises décédées au cours de l'année. Hachette, 1960, S. 75.
  3. ^ G. Destriau: Der Gedächtniseffekt bei der Verstärkung der Lumineszenz durch elektrische Felder. In: Zeitschrift für Physik A: Hadrons and Nuclei. 150, 1958, S. 447–455, doi:10.1007/BF01418633
  4. ^ G. Destriau: Recherches sur les scintillations des sulfures de zinc aux rayons. In: Journal de Chemie Physique. 33, 1936, S. 587–625.
  5. ^ I. Mackay: Thin film electroluminescence.[dead link] Master-Thesis, Rochester Institute of Technology, 1989.
  6. ^ C. H. Gooch: Injection electroluminescent devices. New York: Wiley, 1973, S. 2.
  7. ^ C. D. Munasinghe: Optimization of Rare Earth Doped Gallium Nitride Electroluminescent Devices for Flat Panel Display Applications. PhD-Thesis, University Of Cincinnati, 2005.
  8. ^ A. Ritter, "Lichtemittierende Smart Materials", in Smart Materials in Architektur, Innenarchitektur und Design., Band 3, 2007, S. 110–141, doi:10.1007/978-3-7643-8266-7_6 [1] at Google Books